The Coins (District)
If it can be bought, it’s for sale in the Coins. Money is the only authority here and you get what you pay for. The Coins is the most crowded and noisy of all Val Royeaux’s districts and the shouting and haggling does not quiet much at night. Taverns never close, the open markets light up with torches and spells of illumination alike, and public Time Callers wander about shouting out every hour on the hour. Even when not in a store or the bazaar, a visitor can see buying and selling on every street corner and in every restaurant. It’s been joked that wives in the Coins bargain the price of their husband’s dinners, and for at least some families it’s probably true. Points of Interest Bail House Headquarters of the Coins District Guard, though nearly everyone calls them the “Token Guards”. The guard takes a very lenient view of most crimes, stirring themselves only when paid to do so by private concerns or because a situation threatens to draw the attention of the Primarch. For most offenses, the Token Guard simply arrests everyone in sight and holds them for disturbing the peace. This requires someone to post bail (1 gp per arrest) or to spend three nights in jail. A squat, wood-and-mortar building with barred windows and only two entrances (both gated) the Bail House is clearly designed to withstand survive short-term riots first and foremost and serve any other function second. Grand Bazaar It has been said that anything can be found in the Grand Bazaar of Val Royeaux and that claim isn’t far from wrong. Under the watchful eye of Bwutuzu the Panther, merchants sell everything from Callishite carpets, dwarven axes, elven art and Karatan silks to Minotaur horn drinking cups, griffon-feather cloaks and papyrus. Very few permanent buildings exist but hundreds of pavilions, carts, portable stages and merchant wagons cram together with little rhyme or reason to sell anything a buyer’s heart might desire—and especially what he doesn’t know he wants. The colors and styles are garish and bright, as every merchant tries to catch the eye of potential buyers, with scantily clad dancers, gnome illusionists and performers of every imaginable skill also used to bring crowds close enough for a trader to cry out the value of his wares. Monger's Mart While things sold in the Grand Bazaar are normally nonperishable items, especially rare materials and relics from far-off empires and cheap local goods, the Monger’s Market is all about items that eventually go bad. While the most obvious items are cheeses and meats, the biggest moneymakers here are actually spices. No matter how well preserved or dried they are, spices lose much of their value in their first few months of existence and eventually spoil entirely. Thus, the Monger’s Market is full to bursting with huge tents of sellers from Vudra and other far-off places, including elephants carrying mobile shops! Red Silk Street Although officially just an area where goods of a personal nature can be sold, the section of the Bazaar cordoned off with red silk flags is among the most notoriously hedonistic in the country. Pleasures of any kind can be found, and even activities and opiates illegal elsewhere are allowed within. The shows put on to draw interested buyers are also much more explicit and visitors to Val Royeaux find themselves agape with amazement, enraged with fury or both. To keep things quiet, and money flowing, this is the one area in the Coins with a strong presence of the Token Guards on duty. In truth, it is the less visible agents of the Forthright Men, the thieves’ guild of the Coins, that keep the Red Silk Route quiet. The Saucy Wench There are very few permanent buildings within the Bazaar, which is one of the main reasons the sturdy and massive Saucy Wench remains popular. Located near the center of the vast trading grounds, the Saucy Wench is a capricious four-story mead hall, dealing in nothing but meat hot from the spit, hearty bread and copious quantities of mead. It’s famous for its scantily-clad, all female, interracial serving staff, who are indeed among the sauciest women in all the Coins. They are also, however, employees of the Captain of the Token Guard and any patron crossing the line from flirting to unwelcome advances is hauled off by an off-duty guard before he realized just how many patrons also work for the hall’s owner. All the serving women also live in the building (on the top floor) so while an unwelcome move is swiftly punished, welcome advances are often rewarded by the wenches just as quickly. Hackamore House Operated by its owner Aetris Thunderhoof (a centaur) and her paramour Glenair, this is the premier steed and carriage shop in Val Royeaux. Aetris arrived in Val Royeaux penniless, took over a failing cul-de-sac of businesses selling meat and leather and managed to convert it to its current purpose. Once an open-air market, she has sectioned the massive wooden storage bays and tent roof into a series of stalls for steeds of all kinds and brought several independent crafters to set up their shops under her aegis. Thus, any needed steed, gear or wheeled transport is likely already available and if not, can be designed and ordered from her single location. Misery Row Running the length of the eastern edge of the Coins, bordering the Merchant’s Quarter, is the street on which the purchase and sale of slaves is technically legal—Misery Row. Officially part of the Coins, no member of the Token Guard or District Council ever shows his face in the Row, avoiding the accusation of supporting slavery. However, the Captain of the Guard and all the Council receive a portion of the price of every slave sold. The Row is elevated from street level, making it a wall between the Coins and Merchants’ district, with access to its top found in heavily guarded stairs every few hundred feet. In places Misery Row is as much as 500 feet wide, making it a long, elevated platform rather than a simple street or wall. This means that the auction stages, where slaves are sold to the highest bidder, are elevated and easy to see. It also means getting to the Row to cause trouble is difficult. Most slaves are not bought at the auction; only the most attractive, strongest, most exotic and most skilled are worth the effort it takes slavers to run a complex sale. Most slaves are bought in lots, often sight unseen, from their holding chambers. Buyers needing just one or two slaves can wander along the chambers, even talking to prospective slaves to judge their skills and willingness to be owned without causing trouble. These chambers are always sunken into the wall of misery Row, accessed only from above at wall-height, resulting in the term “Slave Pits of Val Royeaux”. The Eternal Shackle A 20-foot-tall stone arch of unknown origin, this monument is found at the northernmost edge of Misery Row. Currently a massive flame burns beneath the arch; a magic flame which needs to fuel and no deluge can extinguish. It’s said it didn’t burn for years, until Misery Row reinstated slavery, when it began to burn brightly once again. The Devil's Advocate This is a small, Chellish slave brokerage that specializes in highly trained slaves from Cheliax, notably halflings. Scales of Labor The Scales of Labor is not the oldest, largest or most successful slave pit on Misery Row, but it is typical of such establishments. It’s composed of a single, modest shop on Misery Row, near one of the auction platforms, where a number of metal-grate-topped pits hold slaves. Mudhaven In the lowest grounds of the Coins lies Mudhaven. Constantly wet as a result of sitting below seas level and having poor drainage, this is where most of those who work in the Coins live. It is a dreary, dirty stretch of ragged shops, rotting homes and unpaved roads. Violence is a nightly occurrence here and the Token Guard never enter in squads of less than 24 men. Riots are not uncommon, but normally play themselves out by dawn when the rioters sober up. Temple of Lost Coins This ramshackle, half-ruined church is no more a temple than the Forthright Men's Brigade who run it are priests. In this broken castle within a forgotten slum, the thieves’ guild of the Coins holds meetings, gathers taxes and dues and trains new members. It is also the residence of the guild master known as the Harlequin, who both dresses in bright motley and hands every abandoned circus banner and fair streamer ever dropped or discarded in Val Royeaux from the temple’s arches. As a result of a loophole in the Coins’ law, the Forthright Men's Brigade are a legal organization as long as they pay taxes on their profits and never deny their involvement in any crime of trespass of theft. Thus if captured and questioned, a Forthright Man admits to any stealing or spying he has done. Stolen goods must be returned and minor damages paid for any such act they admit to, but beyond that no punishment falls on them. Since it is also a crime to falsely accuse any citizen of a crime, Forthright Men's Brigade members are only called to account when strong evidence ties them to a crime or a victim is certain of exactly who stole something. It’s not enough to be convinced one of a group of Forthright Men committed a crime; witnesses must be able to identify exactly who was involved and be willing to answer to charges if their claim doesn’t pan out.